On Friday, July 14, Greenbelt Library’s auditorium was full of youths sharing their ideas on how to impact big societal issues to achieve greater social justice. They had project ideas that ranged from creating mentor programs, battling misinformation, addressing inequality in education and how schools are funded, to increasing Black representation in anime, fighting mass incarceration, and facilitating voting access and registration. Several had projects focused on combatting climate change, plastic and other forms of pollution and protecting the environment. Campers distilled their big ideas to address these complex topics into 60-second pitches before a panel of judges. This was the capstone event from a week of Social Justice Camp with Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (PGCMLS).
The camp, which was open to rising ninth graders up to those just graduated from high school, drew teens from the north of the county. During the week the youths learned about social justice using various self-contained modules on topics that included an introduction to social justice, a history of social justice movements, research ethics, partnership resources, social entrepreneurship and public speaking, among others. The organizers presented definitions from a variety of organizations so the teens got a broad idea of social justice, and they focused on factual information, trying to remove their own biases, said Isaiah West, a teen services specialist with PGCMLS and an organizer of the camp. Then they had campers define what social justice meant to them.
“I really liked how we talked about a bunch of stuff – racism, inequality, equality and equity,” said Angelica, a teen from Hyattsville. “I liked writing down what I learned. I learned small stuff every day and I liked writing it down to remember,” she told the News Review at the end of the week.
The idea for a social justice summer camp grew out of brainstorming unique ideas to “get teens in the door,” so they could have a safe space with engaging activities during the summer, West told the News Review. Social justice was an idea for a topic on one of the days of a teen camp but the organizers realized they really wanted to offer teens the chance to look at topics through the lens of social justice rather than include it as one of an array of topics. The goal of the camp began as providing a safe space for teens to engage in some social justice ideas and has grown to include getting teens to recognize injustices in their community and empowering them to create change by connecting them with resources.
Last year PGCMLS ran five social justice camps and there were a lot of teens who got something out of them, shared West, but they weren’t necessarily interested in engaging in social justice projects the way this year’s teens were, he explained. Perhaps some were signed up by parents rather than intrinsically motivated or interested in social justice, he suggested. This summer there were only two camps instead of five, in part because the staff were spread thin by five weeks of summer camp last year and five weeks away from their regular jobs and duties, said West. This year, however,
organizers combatted parents signing up children who didn’t have a particular interest by a more probing application process and selection that wasn’t based on the first-come-first-served model of most summer camps. The application asked the teens about their previous experience with social justice or community service and, most importantly, why they wanted to attend and what they hoped to learn. There were 76 applicants for 55 spots. The camps were hosted by Greenbelt Library and Spauldings Branch Library in District Heights, both of which were hosts of social justice camps last year. The teens came from different areas and communities and didn’t know each other at the start of the week. “We saw a lot of friendships blossom that weren’t there before camp,” said West, who enjoyed watching the shyer youths begin laughing and connecting on day two.
Though West couldn’t choose just one favorite part of the week, the elevator pitches at the end were definitely one of the highlights. Prior to their presentations some of the teens were visibly nervous and during the week some had engaged in behavior that was not age-appropriate and led West to worry a few might not be getting out of it everything the organizers hoped. “But then some we were worried about got up there and blew us away,” he said.
“I’m very happy with the reception we’ve received,” said West, who recently presented the work of PGCMLS to welcome teens at the American Library Association conference in Chicago. He’d like to see more funding for staffing and expansion in the future. West says he’s grateful for the major partnerships and support from the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and their Leadership Academy, from the global organization Youth by Youth, as well as Mighty Minds Africa and the Center for Technology Access and Training. He plans to keep in touch with the camp participants and hopes to add a symposium or conference element in the fall. Given encouragement, confidence and the connection to resources he’s hopeful the teens can take their ideas for social justice further than the camp.